New, improved Barbie®

Our grandkids were with us this week for four days--a true delight. But also stressful...that's actually putting it mildly. In the spirit of full disclosure, I experienced moments of intense anger during their visit. NOT at them or because of them but at Tom, my beloved husband (although that's not how I'd have described him during those 4 days). In the not-as-tunnel-visioned light of hindsight, I realize that my intense need to follow rules and "do things right" was at play BIG TIME! These kids are accustomed to routine: 3 regular meals plus two snacks each day, bedtime between 6:45-7:00PM (for the 5-year-old, Trinity) and 7:30-8:00 PM (for the 8 year-old, Fischer). We did not, even once, hold to their schedule--which made me bonkers. Plus, I was running on sleep deprivation--I have difficulty sleeping when they're here--a recipe for frayed nerves. The worst day was when Tom took the kids at 12:35PM to run a few errands and did not return until 4:20PM. When he called me from the hardware store 20 minutes in to ask a purchase-related question, I told him, "Am so glad you called, I realized I sent only a small snack with the kids and they really need to have lunch within the next hour [at this point it'd been 2.5 hours since breakfast]. Forget all the other errands except the grocery store." He agreed (although as I think on our conversation, I believe he may have just muttered mollifying-sorts of sounds...not sure). We spoke 3 more times over the next 3 hours (althou...
Source: Advice for Parents - Category: Eating Disorders Authors: Source Type: blogs